A star-studded Miami Grand Prix weekend saw some shining performances across Friday to Sunday, but a few less than stellar drives too.
Max Verstappen made his recovery from ninth on the grid look easy, even passing pole winning team mate Sergio Perez in the process. But was the championship leader’s performance the most impressive of the field over the weekend?
Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Miami Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen – 7/10
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: Winner (+1 place ahead of team mate)
- Ahead of team mate in every timed session before Q3
- Fastest of all in final two practice sessions and first two phases of qualifying
- Abandoned first Q3 lap after error, then never got to attempt final run due to red flag, leaving him ninth on the grid
- Started on hards, then lost a place off the line to Bottas but overtook Ocon on the opening lap to return to ninth
- Overtook Bottas, then Magnussen and Leclerc in one corner, then Russell, Gasly, Sainz and Alonso to take second by lap 15
- Took the lead after team mate pitted for hards but began to pull out his lead despite being on old tyres
- Pitted for hards on lap 45, then immediately pressured Perez for the lead before passing him around outside of turn one
- Cruised through the remaining laps to win by five seconds
For the first three practice sessions and two segments of qualifying, Max Verstappen looked like he was in complete control of the Miami Grand Prix weekend. Then a simple error on his first Q3 run left him vulnerable and fate doomed him to start down in ninth. His comeback was as impressive as it was unsurprising. He didn’t have to pull out his best passing moves to climb the field, but his pass for the lead was a good, aggressive manoeuvre. He must be docked a mark however for his Q3 error costing him.
Sergio Perez – 5/10
Qualified: Pole (+8 places ahead of team mate, +0.514s)Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 2nd (-1 place behind team mate)
- Behind team mate in every timed session before Q3
- Sat on provisional pole by three tenths after first Q3 run, then confirmed on pole after Leclerc’s crash ended session
- Held the lead at the start, maintaining modest gap out front until pitting for hard tyres
- Rejoined in fourth and immediately passed Ocon
- Slowly reduced gap to Verstappen before falling further behind, only just regaining the lead when Verstappen pitted
- Lost the lead to team mate at turn one after Verstappen passed him around the outside, finishing second
After a genuinely strong weekend in Baku, Perez was simply not able to offer a challenge to his only truly competition in Miami. He did take pole position by virtue of his first Q3 run, but that was hollow achievement in the circumstances. He made no errors or mistakes of note in the race, but he didn’t pull away as many would have expected. The fact that he was hunted down and passed by Verstappen from ninth in a fully green flag race shows how ordinary his pace was.
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Charles Leclerc – 3/10
Qualified: 7th (-4 places behind team mate, +0.512s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 7th (-2 places behind team mate)
- Spun into barriers at turn seven in second practice, damaging front of car
- Made mistake at turn 17 on first Q3 lap to sit in seventh, then crashed out of second attempt, ending session
- Picked up one place from Magnussen at the start, but was re-passed by the Haas driver and Verstappen in the same corner
- Ran eighth until pitting for hards, rejoining 15th
- Passed Zhou before catching up to Magnussen, then battled with the Haas for multiple laps before taking the place
- Overtook Gasly for sixth late in the race but lost it the next lap to Hamilton, eventually finishing in seventh
From one of Leclerc’s best weekends in a Ferrari shirt to one of his worst. Leclerc crashed his SF-23 twice in the weekend, including in qualifying, which meant his mistake-affected first Q3 run counted for his grid slot. Even though he started on mediums, he struggled to dispatch Magnussen before pitting. Struggling with balance, he admitted he was focussing on just getting the car to the finish. A messy weekend.
Carlos Sainz Jnr – 6/10
Qualified: 3rd (+4 places ahead of team mate, -0.512s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 5th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
- Qualified third on the grid after second run was ended by late red flag
- Held onto third at the start, then pursued Alonso until being caught and passed by Sainz
- Pitted for hards, but earned a five second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane
- Rejoined in seventh, passing Hamilton and Hulkenberg before being passed by Alonso at turn 11
- Overtook yet-to-pit Ocon but lost the position with mistake at turn seven, having to repass him the next lap
- Lost fourth to Russell at turn 11 and remaining in fifth until the chequered flag
A good – but not great – weekend for Sainz after a poor outing in Baku. He probably over-qualified with third on the grid, but at least he delivered on his first Q3 lap when many others did not. He had a decent opening stint and managed to undercut Alonso but had little defence when the Aston Martin caught him. Although his pit speeding penalty cost him nothing in results but he must be docked for it and his mid-race mistake that lost him a place to Ocon.
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George Russell – 8/10
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 4th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
- Fastest in opening practice
- Only just reached Q3 in tenth place, then first lap put him sixth on the grid after late red flag
- Passed Magnussen for fifth at the start, then could not fend off Verstappen
- Followed Verstappen through Gasly for fifth then pitted for hards, rejoining 12th
- Passed Zhou, Stroll and Tsunoda before being allowed by Hamilton, then passed Ocon and Sainz to finish fourth
A strong weekend for Russell who was the better of the two Mercedes drivers over the Miami weekend. The only of the pair to reach Q3, he gained a place at the start and pulled off a great opportunistic pass on Gasly before pitting and then scything through slower traffic. Then pulled off two more passes including on a Ferrari to take fourth place, which was as good as he could have hoped for given the pace of the Red Bulls and Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton – 6/10
Qualified: 13th (-7 places behind team mate, +0.232s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 6th (-2 places behind team mate)
- Failed to follow team mate through into Q3 after tyres were too cold in first sector of final Q2 lap
- Started on hard tyres and held position at the start, unable to find a way past Albon until lap 15
- Lost a place to Sainz on fresh tyres, then passed Hulkenberg
- Told not to hold team mate up, allowing him through for sixth place, then pitted on lap 37
- Rejoined in 12th place, then passed Bottas and Magnussen for eighth
- Overtook Gasly and Leclerc in closing laps to take sixth place
A reasonable recovery after a disappointing Saturday. This weekend, it was Hamilton’s turn to be eliminated from Q2. He lined up well behind his team mate on the grid and opted for a hard-medium strategy which meant some early frustration in the early laps but paid off later. He picked off Ocon and Leclerc late to secure a decent enough sixth place, but was outshone by his team mate over the weekend.
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Esteban Ocon – 6/10
Qualified: 8th (-3 places behind team mate, +0.149s)
Start: -2 places
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 9th (-1 place behind team mate)
- Had to settle for eighth in Q3 after first run on used tyres was a tenth and a half slower than team mate
- Started on hard tyres and lost two places at the start to sit tenth before passing Bottas for ninth
- Ran a long opening stint but had good pace to resume in 11th after switching to mediums
- Used fresh tyres to catch and pass Magnussen to sit ninth where he would eventually finish
Ocon had a perfectly decent weekend as Alpine secured ‘best of the rest’ honours in eighth and ninth. He missed out on an opportunity to improve his qualifying time with the Q3 red flag and dropped a couple of places at the start. Starting on the hards, he made a decent job of his strategy and finished close to team mate Gasly. But he has to score one less than his team mate by virtue of being behind in qualifying and at the chequered flag.
Pierre Gasly – 7/10
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 8th (+1 place ahead of team mate)
- Progressed through to Q3 in eighth place, then secured fifth place courtesy of first flying lap on used tyres
- Passed Magnussen to take fourth place at the start, then passed by both Verstappen and Russell in consecutive corners
- Pitted for hard tyres and rejoined in 14th, then passed Zhou and Stroll before catching up to Tsunoda in tenth
- Picked up ninth when Tsunoda pitted and moved up to sixth as others pitted ahead
- Overtaken by Leclerc and Hamilton in quick succession to drop to eighth where he would finish
A good recovery weekend for Gasly after a poor three days in Baku. He benefitted from the red flag in qualifying but had done a better job on his first lap than others to claim fifth on the grid, then picked off Magnussen at the start. He used the pace he had to get by slower cars quicker than others in the field did and there is no shame in being passed late by a Ferrari or a Mercedes. A good effort.
Lando Norris – 6/10
Start: -3 places
Strategy: One-stop (S-H)
Finished: 17th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
- First driver eliminated from Q1 in 16th, a tenth of a second faster than team mate
- Started on soft tyres but was hit from behind by De Vries at the first corner, dropping him to 19th
- Suffered damage costing “two to three tenths a lap”, then pitted for hards on lap four
- Passed team mate and gained more places when cars ahead pitted, but gradually dropped back down the order
- Finished in 17th place, just over a second ahead of De Vries
Another race weekend where a low grid slot and opening lap trouble rendered Norris’s race little more than a data-gathering exercise. The McLaren was not on song around the Miami circuit, leaving him unable to escape from Q1. At the start, getting hit from behind by De Vries caused damage to his car. He was asked to run an extremely long second stint and could do little to prevent everyone easily flying past him. A frustrating weekend.
Oscar Piastri – 5/10
Qualified: 19th (-3 places behind team mate, +0.09s)Start: +5 places
Strategy: One-stop (S-H)
Finished: 19th (-2 places behind team mate)
- Knocked out 19th in Q1, less than a tenth of a second slower than team mate
- Started on softs, picking up five places at the start to run 14th, then pitted for hard tyres on lap five
- Suffered brake-by-wire problem seven laps in that remained for the rest of the race
- Passed by De Vries, failing back from the rest of the field in 19th where he would eventually finish a lap down
Not the most enjoyable first experience at Miami for Piastri, with the McLaren lacking pace all weekend. He was close to matching Norris’s Q1 time and he made excellent use of the soft tyres at the start to gain the most places on the opening lap. His brake-by-wire problem compromised his race and he fell away from his team mate as he tried to make his hard tyres last until the finish. A weekend to forget, but hardly due to his own making.
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Valtteri Bottas – 6/10
Start: +2 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 13th (+3 places ahead of team mate)
- Easily progressed through to Q3 in seventh, half a second quicker than team mate
- Qualified tenth after being denied chance to complete his single flying lap in Q3 due to red flag
- Passed Verstappen and Ocon on the opening lap but soon lost those places in the early laps
- Ran ahead of Hulkenberg in tenth before pitting for hards and falling to 16th
- Picked up places through the pit stop cycle but passed by Hamilton to sit 11th
- Overtaken by Tsunoda and Stroll to drop to 13th where he finished just ahead of Albon
A decent enough weekend for Bottas who was clearly the more dialled-in Alfa Romeo driver of the Miami weekend. He was denied his Q3 flying lap attempt after heading out only in the final minutes but he got a good start and showed decent race pace early on. Unfortunately, he slipped down the order to end up in 13th but that reflected more on the pace of his car rather than of his own performance.
Zhou Guanyu – 5/10
Qualified: 14th (-4 places behind team mate, +0.527s)
Start: -2 places
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 16th (-3 places behind team mate)
- Failed to follow team mate through into Q3, blaming a lack of slipstream due to leading the field on the last run
- Started on hards, dropping two places on the opening lap and running close to Tsunoda in DRS train
- Overtaken by Stroll and slowly fell down the order until eventually pitting for mediums on lap 21, rejoining 17th
- Caught and passed Norris for 16th where he would finish, three places and just under seven seconds behind team mate
Zhou’s weekend was defined by being significantly out-qualified by team mate Bottas on Saturday before being stuck in a DRS train on Sunday. Running the first stint on the hard tyres was probably not the best option for him as he spent the latter part of his first stint being passed by everyone who had pitted ahead of him. By the time he had clear air after pitting he began to make up ground to those ahead, passing Norris, but it was too late to salvage any better result.
Lance Stroll – 4/10
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 12th (-9 places behind team mate)
- Behind team mate in every session
- Earned a total of €500 worth of pit lane speeding fines in second practice
- Knocked out in Q1 in 18th after gamble to remain on used soft tyres for second run failed to pay off
- Started on hards and picked up a place at the start but was hit at the chicane by Sargeant on the opening lap
- Could not get past Zhou until lap 19 then ran behind Gasly until making only stop for mediums and falling to 15th
- Overtook Hulkenberg, Albon and Zhou with his mediums but ran out of time to make any further progress than 12th
A distinctly underwhelming and sub-par performance from Stroll. His Q1 exit was not as bad as it appeared at face value as his team principal admitted they had been “too aggressive” in a bid to get through on a single set of tyres. But while Alonso made it, Stroll did not. In the race, he did make progress, but given the speed of his Aston Martin, he probably still should have ended up with a top ten finish.
Fernando Alonso – 8/10
Qualified: 2nd (+16 places ahead of team mate, -0.297s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 3rd (+9 places ahead of team mate)
- Ahead of team mate in every session
- Easily reached Q3 in third, then took second on the grid despite first Q3 run being on used tyres thanks to red flag
- Held second place at the start and held Sainz at bay in the opening laps until passed by Verstappen
- Pitted later than his rivals for hards, falling behind Sainz but easily passed him into turn 11 to take third place
- Pulled away from the Ferrari and ran “lonely” final stint to secure final podium place
Once again, Alonso got the best result he could have realistically hope to achieve from the weekend. Finishing behind the Red Bulls was effectively a win for him and he did not make a single mistake of note across the weekend. Miles ahead of Stroll, he even had time to check his team mate’s progress on the video screens mid-race. Faced competition from Sainz but had little trouble getting around with fresh tyres to seal his fourth podium.
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Kevin Magnussen – 6/10
Start: -3 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 10th (+5 places ahead of team mate)
- Investigated for impeding Hamilton in Q1 but cleared of any wrongdoing by stewards
- Reached Q3 in ninth, then secured fourth on the grid with first flying lap before late red flag
- Dropped three places on the opening lap, then battled with Leclerc over seventh
- Pitted relatively early for hards, rejoining in 16th and picking up places as rivals pitted
- Overtook Zhou then came under more pressure from Leclerc, battling for multiple laps until eventually falling behind
- Passed by Hamilton and Ocon to drop to tenth but held on to take final point by 1.3 seconds
After looking like this would be another weekend of being slower than his team mate during practice, Magnussen was the better of the Haas drivers when it mattered most. Yes, he was fortunate that Leclerc ended qualifying early, securing him a second-row start, but as in Brazil last year his strong first lap had put him in that position. He got a bad start and did not have the greatest race pace, but he more than held his own against Leclerc through the race and a point for tenth was deserved.
Nico Hulkenberg – 4/10
Qualified: 12th (-8 places behind team mate, +0.23s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 15th (-5 places behind team mate)
- Crashed into the wall at turn three in opening practice
- Eliminated in Q2 after failing to set a second lap with fresh tyres, blaming traffic on his out lap
- Started on hards, picking up 11th from Albon at the start, then ran between Bottas and Albon in the early laps
- Ran as high as fifth before being passed by faster cars that had pitted, then stopped for mediums to fall to 16th
- Overtook Norris and picked up 14th when Stroll pitted before being overtaken soon after
- Caught up to Albon but could not get around the Williams, finishing down in 15th
A very promising start to the weekend failed to materialise into a meaningful result. He spun into the wall in opening practice on the low-grip surface but in spite of that looked to have top ten potential. But he could not follow team mate Magnussen into Q3 and lacked the same race pace as his team mate ahead as he was caught in a midfield DRS train. He should not have been beaten over the line by a Williams this weekend.
Yuki Tsunoda – 6/10
Start: +2 places
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: 11th (+7 places ahead of team mate)
- Only just failed to follow team mate through to Q2 by a tenth of a second, leaving him 17th on the grid
- Started on hards, picking up two places from the De Vries-Norris clash, then another when Piastri pitted
- Overtook Albon, then pitted from eighth place for mediums, rejoining in 14th
- Passed Albon a second time, then Bottas to move into 11th and was just 1.3s away from the final point at the finish
Tsunoda swelled his collection of 11th-place finishes with his third of the year in Miami. He had been quicker than De Vries throughout practice but failed to make the most of his qualifying and ended up out in Q1. In the race he showed maturity and decent racecraft to make progress up the order with some good passing moves on the way. He came very close, yet again, to a point in 11th but could be proud of his afternoon’s work.
Nyck de Vries – 4/10
Qualified: 15th (+2 places ahead of team mate, -0.104s)
Start: -5 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 18th (-7 places behind team mate)
- No higher than 19th across all three practice sessions
- Progressed through to Q2, unlike team mate, but eliminated slowest in 15th
- Lost a place off the line to Norris, then locked up and hit the McLaren, falling to last
- Managed minor damage from the clash until pitting for hard tyres and dropping to 19th
- Caught then passed Piastri for 18th, where he would eventually finish
Another underwhelming weekend for rookie De Vries. While he avoided the walls this time around an unfamiliar circuit and out-qualified his team mate by reaching Q2, he undid his good work at turn one by bumping into Norris and was lucky not to be investigated by the stewards. That put paid to any chance of a decent finish but at least he caught and overtook fellow F2 champion Piastri to salvage something positive in the race.
Alexander Albon – 6/10
Qualified: 11th (+9 places ahead of team mate, -0.343s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 14th (+6 places ahead of team mate)
- Ahead of team mate in every session
- Progressed through to Q2, unlike team mate, and eliminated first in 11th, just half a tenth from Q3
- Dropped one place at the start to run in 12th, then pitted for hards to fall to 17th
- Overtook Norris, then gained places as rivals pitted, moving up to 12th
- Passed by Tsunoda and Stroll in the closing laps to eventually finish 14th
A solid enough weekend for Albon who simply lacked the equipment to challenge for points in a race with no retirements. He did another impressive job on Saturday to only just miss out on Q3, but in the race he was unable to go on the offensive with his Williams and slid down to 14th. He was easily the quicker of the two Williams drivers over the weekend and finished ahead of cars that probably should have beaten him, which he deserves credit for.
Logan Sargeant – 4/10
Start: +2 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 20th (-6 places behind team mate)
- Behind team mate in every session
- Eliminated slowest in Q1, failing to follow team mate through to second stage
- Picked up two places at the start when De Vries bumped Norris at turn one
- Clashed with Stroll clumsily at chicane on opening lap, losing front wing endplate
- Pitted for new front wing and hard tyres on lap two
- Ran the rest of the race on his hard tyres and remained at the rear of the field, finished last one lap down
Tragically, Sargeant’s first ever car race in his native Florida was a poor one. He couldn’t follow team mate Albon into Q2 after losing the best from his tyres and then carelessly bumped into Stroll at the chicane on the opening lap, forcing a front wing change. He apologised profusely over the radio, demonstrating he knew he’d messed up. He never got the Safety Car he needed and so never had the chance to recover any places.
Over to you
Vote for the driver who impressed you most last weekend and find out whether other RaceFans share your view here:
2023 Miami Grand Prix
- Verstappen picks Miami Grand Prix as his best drive of 2023 so far
- Albon “maximised most races this year” despite single point scored to date
- A sign the upgrades worked? Ferrari see an upside to Leclerc’s Miami crashes
- Red Bull ‘surprised other teams under-delivered’ with their 2023 cars
- F1’s driver intros are right for US market but wouldn’t work at Silverstone – Horner
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2023, 7:25
Most impressed: VER, PER, ALO, & MAG.
Most disappointing: LEC, HAM, SAI, & SAR.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
9th May 2023, 7:53
Agree but I’d somewhat controversially add George to your disappointing group.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2023, 11:37
@davedai I don’t feel like he was overly disappointing.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:08
I disagree with russell being disappointing, he maximised the performance of the car, see he got 8 as well.
Axel
9th May 2023, 9:02
I’d add DEV to the disappointing list
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
9th May 2023, 9:24
Yes I omitted to add I had DeVries, Norris and Piastri in the “NOT CLASSIFIED” bin.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2023, 11:36
@Axel Nothing special about him underperforming anymore.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
9th May 2023, 9:46
I would not have included Perez in the impressive list, to be honest. He was so much off of the pace of his teammate that you can’t really call his drive notable. Sure, it’s not a “disappointing” but I certainly wouldn’t call it impressive.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2023, 11:36
@sjaakfoo Largely based on qualifying & maximizing what was achievable, but I see your point.
BasCB (@bascb)
9th May 2023, 11:37
I would agree yeah, @sjaakfoo.
Sure, Perez did the job, got in a REALLY good first lap in Q3 that ended up giving him pole, but would have otherwise still gotten him closer behind Verstappen then he had been the whole weekend if Leclerc and Max had been able to set a second lap.
He can be happy with his performance, despite, as he said himself after the FP sessions, that he really felt he was just not able to get the performance out of the car. Good race, solid job, but it was not a great performance for him.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
9th May 2023, 12:52
@jerejj I think Hamilton didn’t disappoint. He had a terrible qualifier but he did well in the race. Fwiw, he went up almost the same number of positions as Verstappen in a much slower car. Not the best weekend but not a disappointment either.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2023, 13:07
@freelittlebirds Good points
James Bond (@jamesbond)
9th May 2023, 7:44
Verstappen should have 8
Brittish bias?
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
9th May 2023, 7:49
🤣😂 British comedy is alive and well. Who needs Watery Fowls when you can get a laugh here.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
9th May 2023, 8:19
they probably also deduct 1 or 2 points by default because the car is so overpowered :)
So for Max to get a 9 or 10 he really needs to:
1. top all FPs
2. get pole, but start last after incurred penalties for parts changes
3. win the race with fastest lap.
Moi
9th May 2023, 15:49
7.
Maybe 8 if ora his birthday too and he had a cold.
Frans
10th May 2023, 12:37
That won’t do. Part penalties are team problem thus his problem and his point will be deducted due to not operating at the highest level. What need to happen is that during early qualifying, other driver ended up hitting him causing Max to not qualify…. but wait, he is a super driver, he should have a sixth sense and able to avoid the accident. Maybe a small space stone/meteor hitting his car causing him to not qualify… but Max should’ve been able to see it and outrun the meteor. Maybe an unfortunate earthquake happen just under Max’s car causing him to lose control of the car… but he has 11/10 control thus should be able to control the car even when in 9.5 magnitude earthquake under his car.
Even if Max started last due to no fault of his own, Max would need to be in 1st place at the end of the first lap to get higher evaluation. Also 1 fastest lap is not enough. He needs to have at least 5 of the fastest lap of the race… with that, he will only get deducted 0.5. To get full mark, he needs to have at least 10 of the fastest lap.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:11
Keep in mind it’s not only verstappen unable to get 9 or 10, I see no bias against verstappen, in fact he’s the only driver to get a 9 so far at spa 2022, the other drivers also have to do miracles to get a 9, let alone 10.
David (@nvherman)
9th May 2023, 8:20
@jamesbond As a British person, it would certainly seem that way. I can’t see any way in which Russell outperformed Verstappen.
OldIron
9th May 2023, 8:36
Its for the whole weekend – 8 is meant to be “nailed it” so the Q3 error would lead to a deduction. I wouldn’t baulk at a score of 8, but the reasoning for 7 strikes me as consistent.
TBH, I feel 8 for George was a bit generous – in reality they he and Lewis had similar pace and did well in the race. Scoring 7 and 6 would fit.
On the whole though, I think we’re taking ratings far too seriously – they are just a bit of fun. To obtain and process all the data needed to make an informed judgement is a huge job (even if the teams would release it), and even then we wouldn’t truly know exactly how good each car is.
couldntstopmyself
9th May 2023, 10:34
I guess then 9 means ‘he gave 110%’, 10 ‘he outperformed the car’, and leaving 11 for any driver to ‘walk on water’ and be canonised immediately after the race.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:13
The 11 you said would be a 10, we have a single example of 9: verstappen in spa 2022, though I believe hamilton’s brazil 2021 performance was very similar and if the ratings had been going on already that would’ve counted too.
O'Hara
9th May 2023, 9:05
Totally agree!
Mayrton
10th May 2023, 7:37
Let’s see. Say he didn’t have that slip up during the first run in Q3.. then he would have had 1st in FP1, 1st in FP2, 1st in FP3, Pole, Race win, fastest lap. Instead he did one element wrong, but made up from 9 to 1 nursing his tires beautifully and being like a machine on lap times, something that is greatly undervalued with Max. I suggest to listen to Peter Windsor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ35IqXkFl4&t=18s as this was an excellent performance, Maybe the scores are influenced by the circisification of Liberty and more reflect the entertainment value than the athlete’s performance. So a 7 would imho be a bit on the low side.
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th May 2023, 7:48
MAX a 7 George a 8 because he was fastest in FP1 …. I don’t see why George gets a 8 while Max was fastest in FP3 which isn’t menttioned… just compairing both to get a feeling about how you make up these points.
De Vries i noticed ram Lando because Lando went left into de Vries breaking zone which the Stewards cleared de Vries that wasn’t his fault just bad luck that Lando cut his breaking zone in half and that is why he lost 5 places.
These were just 2 i highlighted but Sainz, Gasly, Ocon could get a higher score.
Stephen Taylor
9th May 2023, 11:08
Lando did nothing untoward at the start and was just taking his racing line . De Vries was extremely lucky not to get penalised. If Norris had been a frontrunner De Vries would have been penalised.
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th May 2023, 13:34
But taking the racing line is where De Vries was riding. His problem was he had enough space untill Lando cut that to half by ‘taking the racing line’ and i was looking onboard de vries his camera and i see Lando coming to the left effectly letting De Vries with not enough room to brake i think they called it a racing incident and let it go.
Bojangles
9th May 2023, 8:07
Yes it looks so easy seeing Max going around the circuit and therefore you get the impression that it is not difficult at all, so a 7 as a score seems to be okay. Reality is that what Max showed yesterday was an absolute masterclass of skill and speed, probably one of his best drives ever. He didn´t make one single mistake and was driving in a league of his own. He should be awarded with a 9 at least.
slowmo (@slowmo)
9th May 2023, 9:25
Yet he did make a big mistake on Saturday in Qualifying and this is driver ratings for the weekend, not the race. He is also driving a car that is faster than everyone else on the grid and lucked into what happened to be the best strategy on the day. Taking all into account it is not unreasonable to get a 7. They don’t give marks higher than 8 and certainly not if the driver makes even one mistake over the course of a weekend.
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th May 2023, 13:39
@slowmo he made a minor mistake and took his foot of the pedal the only mistake was he didn’t finish the lap which in future he will. So that little mistake is 3 points in Will pointgiving with normal people that would be a 9 (10-1=9) but the drive should give him a extra point.
slowmo (@slowmo)
9th May 2023, 14:46
They never give more than 8 in these ratings ever. I have no idea why, I just assumed it was to a scale of 8 given any higher seems unattainable.
Doesn’t matter how “minor” the mistake was, it was a mistake. Don’t worry though, he’ll get at least half a dozen 8’s for free as he cruises to wins in a car half a second a lap faster than everyone else throughout the rest of the year so he’ll still “win” the ratings leaderboard by the end.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:17
Verstappen got a 9 in spa 2022, he’s the only one so far, as a further example very likely if the ratings had been there already, hamilton would’ve got a 9 in brazil 2021.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:16
This is not the first time something like this happens, and neither that it happens to verstappen: aborting a lap where you can still get a decent time, even if not pole, is a mistake when you know that every little crash that happens will bring out a yellow or red flag, ruining your 2nd lap.
Mayrton
10th May 2023, 7:40
Fully agree here. Apparently there are a lot of viewers who only scratch the surface when watching the sport.
Illusive (@illusive)
9th May 2023, 8:08
Max 7 and George 8 ? Surely we aren’t watching the same race weekend.
David (@nvherman)
9th May 2023, 8:19
Russell deserves an 8/10 whilst Verstappen only earns a 7? Are these ratings for real?
Verstappen made one mistake in Q3 and was then prevented from rectifying this by yet another crash from Leclerc and a questionable decision not to restart the session by the race director.
Stan (@)
9th May 2023, 10:13
true, and Russell got outqualified by HAAS and Alpine, much slower cars. 8? Never being able to challange Alonso after. What a joke.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:21
Slower cars? I disagree, quali and race aren’t the same, look at the general situation this year: ferrari can challenge red bull in quali, then has worse race pace than mercedes; mercedes has better race pace than anyone but red bull and aston but is not so good in quali, and in this case their quali was even worse; as far as I saw mercedes struggled to get into the top 10 ever since q1 here, and in q2 that was decisive for hamilton, russell made it, there wasn’t more to give.
melanos
9th May 2023, 22:45
That’s the +3 pts UK factor, just deduce it. 5 & 3 for the Merc pilots, pretty generous still
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:22
Except they actually had a decent weekend (hamilton) and good (russell.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
9th May 2023, 8:33
Most of these rating seem fair enough based on the descriptions, but I just can’t see how Magnussen and Sainz are rated the same. Magnussen may have been a bit lucky in qualifying, but still, he did what he did when it mattered and I’d say it was deserved. Sainz started ahead but his pace just looked slow for the ability of his car. Magnessen may have gone backwards, but the Haas is nowhere near as good as the ferrari but he put up a real good fight against leclerc, doing some superb defending and then re overtaking leclerc twice after leclerc got by. He was arguably put up the best fight of any driver this race. Sainz was just slow and got overtaken by russell in the end, who was certainly in a worse car than Sainz.
10th may not be very high, but it was a great weekend from magnussen regardless. I think he should get a 7/10 and Sainz a 5/10.
I also would say verstappen should be 8/10 and di vries 3/10.
BasCB (@bascb)
9th May 2023, 11:41
Good point about Magnussen there @thegianthogweed.
Magnussen really did not make any mistakes, not even his “customary” breaking of wings etc despite having been in the middle of some really exciting on track battles with a much faster Ferrari (and Max coming through in the middle of one of them).
His drive this weekend should surely be rated as a very good one.
Richard Jones
9th May 2023, 15:51
Hi Ben,
top continue with your obsession with Sainz!.Why do you think the mere is worst than the Ferrari on race pace? Was not Hamilton passing Leclerc in the race? Why you only try to criticize Sainz? He was faster than LEC this week!!
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
9th May 2023, 21:55
I agreed with all the rating other than the ones i mentioned needed changing – meaning that I agree Sainz had a MUCH better weekend than Leclerc. Lecerc had been very fast but very error prone this season which isn’t great, but since has still been crashing quite a bit and his race pace is always slow. Many will agree with this and i would say the reason I’m against him is justified. He’s admitted the past 2 weekends that he just hasn’t been able to push because he’s not comfortable with the car – and that is his problem. In terms of car damage, then leclerc is much worse in that area.
In terms of making tactical decisions relating to strategy, Sainz usually makes the right calls, whereas leclerc goes along with the team, who make some pretty terrible decisions. There are some upsides to Sainz, but that vast majority would agree that Leclerc is a far better driver overall.
JA
9th May 2023, 17:53
The 6 on Magnussen is crazy. The lowest I’ve seen him get on other international sites are 7.5.
They have access to the timed laps and the Haas cars were around as fast (or slow) as the Williams (ALB), AlphaTauri (TSU) and Alfa Romeo (BOT).
Coming out with a point when you should be finishing around 12th at best should warrant a higher score than just +1. 12th because Tsunoda was on the better strategy and because Stroll should have done much better in a vastly superior car.
7.5 was in my opinion the right score, but here it should be a 7th as he did make mistakes during the race that kept him from taking the fight up with the better teams in the end.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 21:52
Keep in mind this scoring system is really harsh, 8 is basically a perfect weekend, as opposed to 10 on other sites, that is 25% higher. On this basis, it’s absolutely the same ratio for a 6 here and 7,5 on other sites, so what I mean is it has to be expected he gets 6 this weekend.
Todfod (@todfod)
9th May 2023, 9:16
Max was a clear 8 this weekend.. in the same league (if not ahead) of Alonso and Russell.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
9th May 2023, 9:47
I think Will agrees that his drive this weekend was worthy of an 8 overall, but he also notes that he deducted a point for messing up qualifying, which I think is fair enough.
Todfod (@todfod)
9th May 2023, 12:13
@sjaakfoo
He messed up one run. He would have taken pole easily if Leclerc didn’t bring out the red flag. Can’t deduct a point for misfortune.
David (@nvherman)
9th May 2023, 16:43
@todfod Exactly this
melanos
9th May 2023, 22:50
By not setting a banker you create your own misfortune (and sorry btw for accidentally reporting your comment)
slowmo (@slowmo)
9th May 2023, 9:29
Most of the ratings seem fair enough to me, maybe Leclerc is a bit harsh but it was a pretty dire weekend for him.
Stan (@)
9th May 2023, 10:12
Max Verstappen – 7/10
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Miami International Autodrome, 2023
Despite qualifying setback, Verstappen won again
Qualified: 9th (-8 places behind team mate, -0.514s)
What!?!? Seriously? Verstappen was THE fastest in qualifying, putting the best time of all in Q2 on USED tires. He didn’t set ANY time in Q3. Where did you get this data from ???
couldntstopmyself
9th May 2023, 10:41
Interesting observation, and correct according to the official F1 website.
Verstappen is listed as DNF in Q3.
Dex
9th May 2023, 11:44
I won’t even bother reading these in the future. Turns out those talking about bias here were right. This time it’s too open and obvious. There are no numbers or logic to support some of these ratings. What’s the point then? It’s not like these matter or change something, so biased or not, I see no reason not to try to be realistic and fair. Perhaps it’s easy for me to say, my country never gave an F1 driver, a team or a GP, but then it’s quite the opposite in case of UK; and yet it still doesn’t seem to be enough.
slowmo (@slowmo)
9th May 2023, 14:48
I mean if you’re going to throw around bias claims at least highlight who you think is being picked on.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
9th May 2023, 12:51
Another facepalm rating – no way George Russel was the best performer in Miami GP. Russel had a decent outing but not enough to top the ranking.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 22:01
Alonso got 8 too, which I find fair, he also maximised the car all weekend.
Short Circuit (@jjohn)
9th May 2023, 13:05
Rate the celebrity would be more in keeping with the show.
Or a poll! Who was your favourite billionaire?
Short Circuit (@jjohn)
9th May 2023, 13:08
And on keeping with you Brit spirit James Ratcliffe will be included in the Billionaire poll, even though not in attendance.
I’m giving him a 9.5.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
9th May 2023, 13:38
Leclerc finished 7th in the Ferrari which was probably 4th best car over the weekend. Stroll finished 12th in probably the 2nd best car over the weekend. I know Leclerc also wrecked a car, but it seems odd that Leclerc only scored a 3 to Stroll’s 4 when finishing well ahead in an inferior car when both had self-inflicted issues in qualifying.
couldntstopmyself
9th May 2023, 13:50
Disagree with your assessment of the cars; I rated Ferrari better than Aston Martin in Miami.
The fact that Sainz is a worse driver than Alonso (yet still able to cling on), and Leclerc making a mistake in Q3 (he was ahead in Q2) doesn’t make the Ferrari car any worse.
It was purely based on the drivers which is (attempted to being) reflected here.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
9th May 2023, 14:09
Fair enough, but Sainz finished over 16 seconds behind Alonso, while Alonso was coasting and had nothing to push for (Alonso scored the 2nd fastest lap of the race behind Verstappen on his final lap, so clearly had a lot left in his tyres). But either way, unless you rate the Ferrari as significantly faster that the Aston, Stroll still performed a lot worse than Leclerc since he finished 5 places behind him and out of the points, while being beaten by two Alpines, a Haas and an Alpha Tauri.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 22:04
Yes, agree with this and personally I consider ferrari the 4th best car in the race, with aston 2nd.
slowmo (@slowmo)
9th May 2023, 14:50
I agree the 3 looked pretty harsh, normally I’d have saved that (or less) for him spinning himself out on the first lap of the race.
David
9th May 2023, 15:03
Time to drop this “5 is the average” approach
Intuitively nobody looks at 5 and thinks average. They think it is bad. Look at average ratings on IMDB. Look at all the other sport ratings out there.
Add two marks to these scores and they make sense.
Also, yet another Anglophone publication that sees a driver go from 9th on the grid to 1st and considers it to be an underwhelming performance. While a British driver goes from 6th to 4th and is the star of the show. We deserve better.
Arnoud van Houwelingen (@kavu)
10th May 2023, 13:22
Hahaha .. Max started P9 and his teammate Pole position and at the finish he is over 5 seconds in front of Checo and you only giving him a 7 and Russell an 8 who qualified poorly (behind a Haas and an Alpine) What is going on here?? The UK bias is insane. I think i am just going to leave this site forever. This site seems to be only for Brits anyway.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 22:05
I mean, starting 9th with the best car is bad, when it’s partly self inflicted. 8 is the best possible rating in a normal race like this, so why not take 1 mark off for his mistake?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th May 2023, 22:06
Merc was terrible on 1 lap here, what makes you think there was any more to give than russell did? Hamilton himself didn’t even get into q3, and they were around the top 10 even in q1. You’re saying they’re both terrible drivers every session? I’d say it was the car.
grapmg
10th May 2023, 15:07
I miss the average ratings for 2023 so far. I guess Alonso must be leading this championship?
Rolfski (@rolfski)
10th May 2023, 16:40
Max’s performance over a weekend was definitely better than a 7 by any standard. His race was a masterclass in clean overtaking, making an alternative strategy work, tire management, and pure race pace that you seldom see.